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Arbroath assistant boss Todd Lumsden to take team against Queen’s Park

John Christison.
John Christison.

Arbroath chairman John Christison has welcomed the decision taken by assistant boss Todd Lumsden to stay on at Gayfield.

Lumsden had been considering his own position in the wake of manager Allan Moore’s sacking by the Angus club on Sunday – just a day after the Lichties had lost to Elgin City.

He held lengthy talks with his now former gaffer, with whom Lumsden works during the week at North Lanarkshire College.

During those discussions Moore urged Lumsden to say yes to Christison’s request that he stay and take the team for the vital clash with Queen’s Park at Gayfield on Saturday.

The possibility of promotion to League One via the play-offs is still a live one for the Lichties despite their terrible run of results.

Lumsden said: “It was a difficult situation as Allan is a friend and a work colleague.

“However, he said I should take the chance to look after the team.

“In fact, he told me to go on and win promotion.

“I will now start getting the players prepared for the Queen’s Park game.”

The news that the former Albion Rovers gaffer has agreed to hang around was welcomed by the chairman.

Christison said: “We spoke to Todd and asked him to stay on and I’m pleased he has said yes.

“He said he needed time to think about it and we were happy to give him that time.”

It is likely the arrangement with Lumsden will be on a game-to-game basis as the club continue to look for a permanent manager.

Should he help engineer a win this weekend, however, then Lumsden could take Arbroath into the play-offs.

Meanwhile, Christison admitted he and the rest of the board remain at a loss to explain just how the club’s fortunes could have dipped so dramatically since the turn of the year.

The form slumps of other Scottish clubs this season may have attracted more attention but there have been few, if any, as stark as that suffered by the Lichties.

On September 20 they travelled through to Broadwood and thumped Clyde 5-2.

That started a run of 18 matches made up of 12 victories, four draws and only two defeats.

The last of that sequence of fixtures was a home game against struggling Angus neighbours Montrose at Gayfield on January 3.

They didn’t lose the derby – they drew 2-2 after being a couple of goals ahead and missing a last-gasp penalty – and still held a comfortable lead at the top of the table at that point.

However, Christison feels that was when it all started to go wrong.

Defeat away to Queen’s Park followed a fortnight later and it has been all downhill from there, with just one solitary success – a 3-1 home win over Clyde on March 14 – to show for their efforts in 2015.

Christison said: “You look back at the Montrose game and see that was when it turned against us.

“We lost the 2-0 lead and everything seemed to stem from there.

“There have been other factors, too, like injuries to key players.

“We have tried to analyse what has happened since but it is difficult to put your finger on it.”

The Lichties have three matches left in the regular season – at home to the second-top Spiders, away to leaders Albion Rovers on April 25 and then a clash with Berwick Rangers at Gayfield on May 2.

They currently sit in third spot in the table – four points clear of fourth-placed East Fife and six ahead of Elgin City in fifth position.